10 Trivia-Worthy Facts About The Past That May Leave New Generations Shook

Back in my day, we only had one computer in the whole house. And we couldn’t use it if anyone was talking on the telephone! The world around us is changing at an incredible pace, and it’s extremely easy for young generations to forget or simply be unaware of what our grandparents experienced growing up.

So to remind ourselves how different the world was back then, one Reddit user recently asked older adults to share their favorite “pieces of trivia” that people their age know but younger generations might not. Below, you’ll find some of their most fascinating responses, so enjoy scrolling through. And keep reading to find a conversation with Jean Mader and Laura Bettinger of the OK Boomer podcast!

10 PHOTOS

#1

Phone numbers were memorized, and there was no speed dial, caller ID, or voicemail. I still remember my home # and my best friend's # from 50+ years ago.

#2

The world was way more colorful.

Cars were cool colors, not just gray, white, or black. Like, a mall parking lot would look spectacular.

Now it seems like everywhere is just a ubiquitous, low profile, architecturally acceptable sea of blah.

#3

That when you watched TV you had to watch what was on and if you wanted to watch something in particular, you had to wait for it to come on.

To gain more insight on this topic, we reached out to Jean Mader and Laura Bettinger, co-hosts of the OK Boomer podcast. They were kind enough to provide some examples of things they remember that Gen Z might be confused or surprised by. "We all had a crush on Little Joe on Bonanza, watched in black and white," Jean revealed. "[We were] excited to get the annual big phone book and peruse the yellow pages (old books used as handy booster seats for kids)."

The hosts also provided a long list of things Gen Z might not be aware of princess-style landline phones, typing on typewriters and using whiteout, getting blue fingers from carbon paper to make copies, using World Book Encyclopedias instead of Google, giant paper roadmaps you could never properly refold, and trading Beatles cards. Jean also pointed out that men would hold doors open for women, open car doors, and walk next to the curb for women. "Always!"

#4

Not that long ago, but you had no security screening at airports. You could walk the person to the boarding area and watch them board the plane.

#5

MTV was all music.

#6

When the internet first came out, you couldn't talk on the phone and be online at the same time.

Jean also reminded us of 3.2% low alcohol beer, diets from the 1980s like the Cabbage Soup diet and Grapefruit Diet, huge Hi Fidelity furniture like stereo record players, metal lunch boxes, riding in the back of station wagons facing backward with no seatbelts, viewfinders, video stores, Swanson TV dinner nights, arm wrestling to settle disputes, nobody wearing sunscreen, fallout shelters and houses with coal chutes.

#7

My boss blew my young co-worker's mind the other day when she explained that there is a special kind of black paper, that you can put between two regular pieces of paper, and when you write on the top one, it shows up on the bottom one!

#8

TV stations used to just go off at midnight. They would play a test pattern and a tone until resuming broadcasting around 6 am.

#9

That it was normal for an entire household to share a single phone number.

We also asked the hosts if they happened to miss any of these things from the past. "Do not miss encyclopedias," Jean shared. "Google at our fingertips is amazing (although with this, we lost the ability to spell on our own). Truly thankful for GPS, but miss a map here and there to get a true perspective as to where things are. And a good arm wrestle is always fun and handy."

#10

My 20 yo son liked this one:

When driving anywhere new, you had to get directions or stop at the gas station and ask for them…

Or you could buy a map/atlas.